Cost Of Manchester School Roof Projects Will Be Much Higher Than Voters Approved

MANCHESTER — — Even with the proposed easing of building requirements now pending in the state legislature, the $1.75 million that local voters approved for replacing elementary school roofs will not be nearly enough.

The town building committee is scheduled to hear from an architect Monday night on the planned projects at Waddell, Verplanck and Bowers elementary schools.

Facilities Project Manager Christopher Till said Friday that he did not have a complete cost estimate yet, but the price will be significantly higher than the funds voters sanctioned in a November referendum.

The board of directors, at meeting this week, harshly criticized the school board for presenting inaccurate figures to voters. The money for roof replacements was part of a $4.9 million bond issue for school repairs.

School board Chairman Chris Pattacini referred questions to Interim Superintendent Richard Kisiel, who said school district Facilities Manager Richard Ziegler based the roof replacement estimates on what was known at the time.

In any case, Kisiel said, "we're going to get the roofs done. It's a matter of protecting the investments the community has already made in these buildings."

Ziegler, who could not be reached for comment, presented the board of education last year with a list of needed repairs to school district properties totaling about $23 million. The most critical items, he told the school board, included replacing the three elementary school roofs, which were all leaking and beyond their 20-year lifespan.

Ziegler listed the cost of roof replacements at Waddell and Bowers schools at $550,000 each and the Verplanck project at $650,000.

But the estimates did not take into account masonry work that must be done to seal the roofs, Till said. In one project, masonry repairs represent about 30 percent of the cost of the entire project, he said.

"Some of the areas of concern identified as a leaking roof is actually leaking masonry," he said.

Till is in charge of the projects now, but he was not involved in the original estimates.

The original cost estimates may have counted on waivers from a state rule that requires new school roofs to have a 1/2 inch per foot slope, Till said. Without the waiver, which would permit a less steep 1/4 inch pitch, much more material and work will be needed, raising the cost significantly, town officials have said.

But the project architect, W. Albert Jacunski of Berlin-based Jacunski Humes Architects, has found that a structural analysis on the school roofs does not support a state waiver to a 1/4-inch pitch, Till said Friday. A main criteria for a waiver is that the structure would not support the additional weight of material needed to achieve a 1/2 inch pitch, but the architect has found that the Manchester school roofs could support the weight, Till said.

Town officials have placed hope in pending state legislation that would allow a 1/4-inch pitch for school roof replacements. State Rep. Jason Rojas, a Democrat whose district includes part of Manchester, said he hopes to get the bill through the General Assembly within the next several weeks. He was approached to sponsor the bill by a Manchester architect, Rick Lawrence, who wrote to Rojas and other legislators in January about planned school roof replacements in Manchester and South Windsor.

The state's requirement for a 1/2-inch pitch for roof replacements does not make structural or economic sense, Lawrence wrote. There is no evidence that the higher pitch results in less mold or improved indoor air quality, he wrote, and requiring the 1/2-inch pitch would add "extraordinary additional costs" to the roof replacement projects. He cited a cost comparison done in Fairfield on a school roof replacement that found a $5.15 million cost increase for the higher pitch.

If the bill Rojas is pushing does not pass in time for the Manchester projects to be done this summer, waiting a year and doing critical repairs to keep water out would make sense, Till said. Jacunski will present a prioritiy list Monday of work that should be done, Till said.

The roof replacement projects are eligible for 65 percent reimbursement from the state, he said, but that does not apply to all aspects of the work, such as masonry repairs. No decisions have been made on sources for the additional town funds needed to launch the projects.

One source could be $1.2 million approved as part of the $4.9 million referendum for adding three classrooms to replace decrepit portable classrooms at Illing Middle School. If school officials can accommodate the loss of the portables in the existing middle school, that money could be reallocated to the roofing projects, General Manager Scott Shanley said.